Sacagaweaalso spelled Sacajawea ( born c.1786 , probably near 1788 , near the Continental Divide at the present-day Lemhi, Idaho, Idaho-Montana border [U.S.]—died Dec. 20, 1812? , Fort Manuel, on the Missouri River, Dakota Territory ) Shoshone Indian woman who, carrying her infant son on her backas interpreter, traveled thousands of wilderness miles with the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–06), from the Mandan-Hidatsa villages in the Dakotas to the Pacific Northwest.

Historians have been hard put to separate the facts from the body of folklore that have made this brave and much-honoured woman a popular heroine. Dates of her birth range from 1780 to 1790 in various sources, her birth place also appearing variously as western Montana or eastern Idaho. She was a member of the Lemhi band of Shoshone Indians, and it is believed that her Shoshone name was Boinaiv, meaning “grass maiden.” About 1800 she was captured by a party of Hidatsa (Minitari) Indians and taken to their village in the region of the upper Missouri River in present-day North Dakota. The Hidatsa people may have given her the name Sacagawea (pronounced with a hard “g”), derived from the Hidatsa words for “bird” and “woman.” Some authorities believe that later misunderstandings and attempts at standardization resulted in the commonly found spelling Sacajawea (pronounced with a “j”), which means “boat launcher” in Shoshone.

Sacagawea and another Shoshone girl were later sold to a French Canadian trapper, Toussaint Charbonneau, who had been living among the Indians. Following local customs, Charbonneau married both girls about 1804. That fall the expedition commanded by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark arrived among the Mandan Indians near what is now Bismarck, North Dakota, to spend the winter. Lewis and Clark engaged Charbonneau as an interpreter and guide to travel with them when they continued their journey of exploration to the Pacific Coast, and it was agreed that Sacagawea would accompany the party. On February 11, 1805, Sacagawea gave birth to a baby boy, Jean-Baptiste, whom she carried on her back when the expedition set out again on April 7.

Sacagawea proved to be a significant asset. She identified plants for the explorers and searched for edible fruits and vegetables to supplement their diet. When a boat was tipped over, she rescued the journals, medicines, and other valuables that had washed overboard. In return, Lewis and Clark named a river Sah-ca-ger-we-ah (Sah-cah-gar-we-ah, Sah-ca-gah-we-ah; “Bird Woman’s River”) in her honour. Her fortitude in the face of hazards and deprivations later became legendary.

On August 17 near present-day Armsted, Montana, the expedition encountered a band of Shoshone led by Sacagawea’s brother Cameahwait. The emotional climate created by their reunion had a salutary effect on negotiations for the horses and guides without which the expedition might well have ended almost on the spot. As the journey continued, the suspicions of other Indian tribes were allayed by the presence of a woman and child. Clark reported that “a woman with a party of men is a token of peace.” Charbonneau and Sacagawea stayed with the expedition to the coast and between them enabled the explorers to communicate with the various peoples of the Plains and the Northwest. On the return journey Sacagawea and Charbonneau remained with the Mandan Indians in present-day North Dakota while the rest of the group continued to St. Louis, Missouri.

There is evidence that Sacagawea and Charbonneau Separating fact from legend in Sacagawea’s life is difficult; historians disagree on the dates of her birth and death and even on her name. In Hidatsa, Sacagawea (pronounced with a hard g) translates into “Bird Woman.” Alternatively, Sacajawea means “Boat Launcher” in Shoshone. Others favor Sakakawea. The Lewis and Clark journals generally support the Hidatsa derivation.

A Lemhi Shoshone woman, she was about 12 years old when a Hidatsa raiding party captured her near the Missouri River’s headwaters about 1800. Enslaved and taken to their Knife River earth-lodge villages near present-day Bismarck, N.D., she was purchased by French Canadian fur trader Toussaint Charbonneau and became one of his plural wives about 1804. They resided in one of the Hidatsa villages, Metaharta.

When explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark arrived at the Mandan-Hidatsa villages and built Fort Mandan to spend the winter of 1804–05, they hired Charbonneau as an interpreter to accompany them to the Pacific Ocean. Because he did not speak Sacagawea’s language and because the expedition party needed to communicate with the Shoshones to acquire horses to cross the mountains, the explorers agreed that the pregnant Sacagawea should also accompany them. On Feb. 11, 1805, she gave birth to a son, Jean Baptiste.

Departing on April 7, the expedition ascended the Missouri. On May 14, Charbonneau nearly capsized the white pirogue (boat) in which Sacagawea was riding. Remaining calm, she retrieved important papers, instruments, books, medicine, and other indispensable valuables that otherwise would have been lost. During the next week Lewis and Clark named a tributary of Montana’s Mussellshell River "Sah-ca-gah-weah,” or “Bird Woman’s River," after her. She proved to be a significant asset in numerous ways: searching for edible plants, making moccasins and clothing, as well as allaying suspicions of approaching Indian tribes through her presence; a woman and child accompanying a party of men indicated peaceful intentions.

By mid-August the expedition encountered a band of Shoshones led by Sacagawea’s brother Cameahwait. The reunion of sister and brother had a positive effect on Lewis and Clark’s negotiations for the horses and guide that enabled them to cross the Rocky Mountains. Upon arriving at the Pacific coast, she was able to voice her opinion about where the expedition should spend the winter and was granted her request to visit the ocean to see a beached whale. She and Clark were fond of each other and performed numerous acts of kindness for one another, but romance between them occurred only in latter-day fiction.

Sacagawea was not the guide for the expedition, as some have erroneously portrayed her; nonetheless, she recognized landmarks in southwestern Montana and informed Clark that Bozeman Pass was the best route between the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers on their return journey. On July 25, 1806, Clark named Pompey’s Tower (now Pompey’s Pillar) on the Yellowstone after her son, whom Clark fondly called his “little dancing boy, Pomp.”

The Charbonneau family disengaged from the expedition party upon their return to the Mandan-Hidatsa villages; Charbonneau eventually received $409.16 and 320 acres (130 hectares) for his services. Clark wanted to do more for their family, so he offered to assist them and eventually secured Charbonneau a position as an interpreter. The family traveled to St. Louis in 1809 to leave baptize their son to be educated by and left him in the care of Clark, who had fondly called the boy Pomp, or Pompey, on the expedition and had named Pompey’s (or Pomp’s) Tower (now Pompey’s Pillar) on the Yellowstone River for him. A woman identified as Charbonneau’s wife and earlier offered to provide him with an education. Shortly after the birth of a daughter named Lisette, a woman identified only as Charbonneau’s wife (but believed to be Sacagaweadied shortly thereafter, according to contemporary sources, in ) died at the end of 1812 at Fort Manuel, in what is now South Dakota. Some biographers speculate, however, that the woman who died at Fort Manuel was Charbonneau’s other wife and that Sacagawea eventually rejoined the Shoshone people at the Wind River reservation in Wyoming and died there in 1884. Memorials have been raised near both sites, as well as at numerous other locations associated with Sacagawea.Ella E. Clark and Margot Edmonds, Sacagawea near present-day Mobridge, S.D. Clark became the legal guardian of Lisette and Jean Baptiste and listed Sacagawea as deceased in a list he compiled in the 1820s. Some biographers and oral traditions contend that it was another of Charbonneau’s wives who died in 1812 and that Sacagawea went to live among the Comanches, started another family, rejoined the Shoshones, and died on Wyoming’s Wind River Reservation on April 9, 1884. These accounts can likely be attributed to other Shoshone women who shared similar experiences as Sacagawea.

Sacagawea’s son, Jean Baptiste, traveled throughout Europe before returning to enter the fur trade. He scouted for explorers and helped guide the Mormon Battalion to California before becoming an alcalde, a hotel clerk, and a gold miner. Lured to the Montana goldfields following the Civil War, he died en route near Danner, Ore., on May 16, 1866. Little is known of Lisette’s whereabouts prior to her death on June 16, 1832; she was buried in the Old Catholic Cathedral Cemetery in St. Louis. Charbonneau died on Aug. 12, 1843.

Sacagawea has been memorialized with statues, monuments, stamps, and place-names. In 2000 her likeness appeared on a gold-tinted dollar coin struck by the U.S. Mint. In 2001 U.S. President Bill Clinton granted her a posthumous decoration as an honorary sergeant in the regular army. See also Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Grace R. Hebard, Sacajawea, a Guide and Interpreter of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (19791932, reissued 19832002), is the best-known, but not always reliable, biography depicting Sacagawea as a guide. Harold P. Howard, Sacajawea (1971, reissued 2001), provides the best narrative biography. Donna J. Kessler, The Making of Sacagawea: A Euro-American Legend (1996, reissued 1998), examines how and why Sacagawea became a legendtwo centuries of scholarly and popular writings about her.